DOE Sent Confidential Information to Loan Guarantee Applicant

Emails uncovered by congressional investigators show that a top Energy Department adviser sent confidential government information to representatives of a company vying for federal financing.

The company, which is tied to multiple politically connected green-energy firms, eventually received a $1.4 billion partial loan guarantee from DOE.

“[P]lease do not sent beyond two of you,” urged DOE adviser Peter O’Rourke in a June 3, 2011, email to representatives from industrial real estate manufacturer Prologis and Bank of America. “[T]his is very important,” O’Rourke added.

“Confidential treatment requested,” states a notice on each of the presentation’s slides. The cover slide contains a longer confidentiality request, which reads, in part:

Restricted distribution – this email or document contains sensitive proprietary information and other information that is subject to protection under federal law include the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C §1905, and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. §552. Please safeguard this information and refrain from further dissemination.

The email, embedded below, was obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the political connections behind green-energy firms that received taxpayer backing through DOE.

Another email obtained by the committee, sent in September 2011 and also embedded below, suggests that Project Amp was originally going to retrofit Prologis facilities with Solyndra solar panels until the company went bankrupt in August of last year. Solyndra had major connections to the Energy Department and the White House.

The eventual Prologis project, approved on September 28, 2011, was partially financed by NRG Energy, which also enjoys significant political clout.

Kathleen McGinty sits on the company’s board of directors. Described by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a “protégé of Al Gore,” McGinty is a former member of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the founding director of the White House Office on Environmental Policy. She is also a former senior advisor to the Democratic National Committee.

McGinty has personally met with Nancy Sutley, who chairs the Obama White House’s Council on Environmental Quality to discuss the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), White House visitor logs show.

NRG CEO David Crane and Prologis CEO Walter Rakowich are testifying before an Oversight Subcommittee regarding the companies’ political ties on Tuesday morning. The hearing can be viewed live here.

Join The Discussion

Gosh. And we wonder why everything is in turmoil. No one's held accountable and all accountabilities are hidden by the need to raise taxes on the rich! NO! America needs the government controlled rapists in all areas to stop and held accountable with reprimand!!

Don’t have time to read the Washington Post or New York Times? Then get The Morning Bell, an early morning edition of the day’s most important political news, conservative commentary and original reporting from a team committed to following the truth no matter where it leads.

Email address

Ever feel like the only difference between the New York Times and Washington Post is the name? We do. Try the Morning Bell and get the day’s most important news and commentary from a team committed to the truth in formats that respect your time…and your intelligence.